The Hidden Story of Partition and its Legacies

What issues were left unresolved at the time of India's partition in

1947, and how have they continued to plague both India and
Pakistan since independence?
Reasons for partition
India and Pakistan won independence in August 1947, following a
nationalist struggle lasting nearly three decades. It set a vital
precedent for the negotiated winding up of European empires
elsewhere. Unfortunately, it was accompanied by the largest mass
migration in human history of some 10 million. As many as one
million civilians died in the accompanying riots and local-level
fighting, particularly in the western region of Punjab which was
cut in two by the border.
The agreement to divide colonial India into two separate states one with a Muslim majority (Pakistan) and the other with a Hindu
majority (India) is commonly seen as the outcome of conflict
between the nations elites. This explanation, however, renders
the mass violence that accompanied partition difficult to explain.
If Pakistan were indeed created as a homeland for Muslims, it is
hard to understand why far more were left behind in India than
were incorporated into the new state of Pakistan - a state created
in two halves, one in the east (formerly East Bengal, now
Bangladesh) and the other 1,700 kilometers away on the western
side of the subcontinent.
It is possible that Mohammed Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim
League, simply wished to use the demand for a separate state as
a bargaining chip to win greater power for Muslims within a
loosely federated India. Certainly, the idea of 'Pakistan' was not
thought of until the late 1930s.
One explanation for the chaotic manner in which the two
independent nations came into being is the hurried nature of the
British withdrawal. This was announced soon after the victory of

the Labor Party in the British general election of July 1945, amid
the realization that the British state, devastated by war, could not
afford to hold on to its over-extended empire.
Transfer of power
An act of parliament proposed a date for the transfer of power
into Indian hands in June 1948, summarily advanced to August
1947 at the whim of the last viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten.
This left a great many issues and interests unresolved at the end
of colonial rule.
In charge of negotiations, the viceroy exacerbated difficulties by
focusing largely on Jinnah's Muslim League and the Indian
National Congress (led by Jawaharlal Nehru).
The two parties' representative status was established by
Constituent Assembly elections in July 1946, but fell well short of
a universal franchise.
Tellingly, although Pakistan celebrated its independence on 14
August and India on 15 August 1947, the border between the two
new states was not announced until 17 August.
It was hurriedly drawn up by a British lawyer, Cyril Radcliffe, who
had little knowledge of Indian conditions and with the use of outof-date maps and census materials.
Communities, families and farms were cut in two, but by delaying
the announcement the British managed to avoid responsibility for
the worst fighting and the mass migration that had followed.
Tensions in India
Many have wondered why the British and Indian leaders did not
delay until a better deal over borders could have been agreed.
One explanation is that in the months and years immediately
following World War Two, leaders on all sides were losing control
and were keen to strike a deal before the country descended into
chaos.

Immediately before World War Two, India was ravaged by the

impact of the Great Depression, bringing mass unemployment.
This created tremendous tensions exacerbated during the war by
inflation and food grain shortages. Rationing was introduced in
Indian cities and in Bengal a major famine developed in 1942.
The resulting discontent was expressed in widespread violence
accompanying the Congress party's 'Quit India' campaign of 1942
- a violence only contained by the deployment of 55 army
battalions.
With the cessation of hostilities, the battalions at the disposal of
the government in India were rapidly diminished. At the same
time, the infrastructure of the Congress Party, whose entire
leadership was imprisoned due to their opposition to the war, had
been dismantled.
The Muslim League, which co-operated with the British, had
rapidly increased its membership, yet still had very limited
grassroots level organization.
This was dramatically revealed on the 16 August 1946, when
Jinnah called for a 'Direct Action Day' by followers of the League
in support of the demand for Pakistan. The day had dissolved into
random violence and civil disruption across north India, with
thousands of lives lost.
This was interpreted by the British as evidence of the
irreconcilable differences between Hindus and Muslims. In reality,
the riots were evidence as much of a simple lack of military and
political control as they were of social discord.
Further evidence of the collapse of government authority was to
be seen in the Princely State of Hyderabad, where a major
uprising occurred in the Telengana region, and with the Tebhaga
('two-thirds') agitation among share-cropping cultivators in north
Bengal. A leading role was played in both by the Communist Party
of India.

Elsewhere, the last months of British rule were marked by a naval

mutiny, wage strikes and successful demonstrations in every
major city. In all of these conflicts the British colonial government
remained aloof, as it concentrated on the business of negotiating
a speedy transfer of power.
Hopes for Pakistan
Strong support for the idea of an independent Pakistan came
from large Muslim landowning families in the Punjab and Sindh,
who saw it as an opportunity to prosper within a captive market
free from competition.
Support also came from the poor peasantry of East Bengal, who
saw it as an opportunity to escape from the clutches of
moneylenders - often Hindu. Both were to be disappointed.
Independent Pakistan inherited India's longest and strategically
most problematic borders.
At the same time, 90% of the subcontinent's industry, and
taxable income base remained in India, including the largest
cities of Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta. The economy of Pakistan
was chiefly agricultural, and controlled by feudal elites.
Furthermore, at the division of India, Pakistan won a poor share
of the colonial government's financial reserves - with 23% of the
undivided land mass, it inherited only 17.5% of the former
government's financial assets. Once the army had been paid,
nothing was left over for the purposes of economic development.
The great advantage enjoyed by the Indian National Congress
was that it had worked hard for 40 years to reconcile differences
and achieve some cohesion among its leaders. The heartland of
support for the Muslim League, however, lay in central north India
(Uttar Pradesh) which was not included within Pakistan.
Muslims from this region had to flee westwards and compete with
resident populations for access to land and employment, leading
to ethnic conflict, especially in Sindh.

Post-partition and conflict over Kashmir

The death of Muhammed Ali Jinnah in 1948, the conflict with
India over the Princely State of Kashmir (which both countries
claimed at independence), as well as ethnic and religious
differences within Pakistan itself, all combined to stymie early
attempts to agree on a constitution and an effectively functioning
civil administration.
This failure paved the way for a military takeover of the
government in 1958 and later on, a civil war in 1971. This saw
the division of the country and the creation of the separate state
of Bangladesh. Ever since then, military rule has been more often
than not the order of the day in both countries.
At independence, in India and in Pakistan, civil unrest as well as
ethnic and religious discord threatened the stability of the new
country. However, the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30
January 1948 by a Hindu fanatic strengthened the hand of
secularists within the government.
Indian politicians ratified a constitution, which led to the first
democratic elections in 1951. This made India the world's largest
democracy and consolidated governmental authority over the
entire subcontinent.
However, major tensions have persisted among both Muslim and
Sikh communities, which suffered most from the violence and
land loss resulting from partition. These tensions erupted most
seriously in the 1980s in a violent campaign for the creation of a
separate Sikh state which led ultimately to the assassination of
Indira Gandhi.
Renewed victimization of Muslims has also occurred, notably with
the destruction of the Muslim shrine at Ayodhya in 1992 and antiMuslim riots in Gujarat in 2004. With such notable exceptions,
however, India has maintained a remarkable level of cohesion
since independence, especially if one considers that it is a country
nearly the size of Europe.

For both India and Pakistan, the most singular conflict unresolved
since partition has concerned the former Princely State of
Kashmir, whose fate was left undetermined at the time the British
left. Lying as it did on the border, Kashmir was claimed by both
countries, which have been to war over this region on numerous
occasions.
The conflict has wasted thousands of lives and millions of dollars,
but is closer to a solution now than at any time since
independence. If achieved, it might finally bring to fruition the
dreams of Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi and once
more set an example for post-colonial societies elsewhere in
Africa, Asia and the Middle East to imitate and follow.

1. When did the largest mass migration in human history

occur?
2. What does partition mean?
3. What two countries were involved in this event?
4. When did people first think of creating Pakistan?
5. What empire could no longer afford to keep India as a
colony?
6. What did the Congress Party advocate in 1942?
7. What happened on Direct Action Day?
8. What does irreconcilable mean?
9. What group advocated for an independent Pakistan?
10.
Did Pakistan benefit financially from this partition?
11.
What region caused conflicts between both sides?
12.
Who was assassinated in 1948?
13.
When did India become a democracy?
14.
What led to the assassination of Indira Gandhi?
15.
Has there been a resolution to the conflict over
Kashmir?